The Crazies (2010) a Review by DjfunkmasterG

[DjfunkmasterG]

George A. Romero's The Crazies has always been a weird treat for me. I never hated it, but I never loved it. However a friend and I have sort of always considered it a pre-cursor to DAWN. The film is very weak at times but it laos has its strong moments... but it needed a lot of work.

Ok, so last night I finally checked out The Crazies remake and I have got to say I consider it one of the best remakes of Romero's work. This is one of those times the remake supasses the original, at least in my opinion. This new version starts off pretty much right from the jump and keeps the suspense pegged during the more intense action sequences.

What was really nice about this is that it strictly focused on the perspective of the town's inhabitants whereas the original focused more on the military aspect. Brett Eisner, gave the film some really solid direction, and a lot of intense horror moments were just right, brutal and pretty much everything that has been lacking in conventional horror films.

While I am not a huge fan of Timothy Olyphant aka Olyphatistic as Kevin Smith call him, I thought he did ok here. I would like to have seen someone with a wider range play the towns police chief, but maybe, it is best that he portrayed it as he did, since it was only one viewing and I was so immersed in the post contaminatin vision, I wasn't exactly 100% focused on Tim's performance the whole time, but I won't come flat out and say he sucked because he did not, he just left a lot to be desired.

The rest of the cast was decent and really pulled off some nice work, especially for a zombie style film, shot on a measely $12,000,000.00. The cast that made up the infected did a fabulous job. I mean they were fucking creepy from start to finish, just when I was starting to give up on modern horror films, out comes this Crazies remake to firmly make me believe a great horror film can be made once again.

The nice thing about TC2010 is that while it only runs 90 minutes it doesn't feel long, nor does it feel short. The right amount of time was put in to make sure it all came together without too many mistakes and errors. Its just too bad that the marketing campaign for the film was lackluster, but then again it did open while Avatar was still smashing box office records, which to me was a mistake. This flick should have been delayed until October of this year and I think it would have faired better, but alas... it's $38 million dollar US haul is nothing to sneeze at, hell no.

One side note: George was listed as Exec Producer for the flick, but being an exec producer isn't much these days. Still it was nice to see his name attached to something good for a change.

All in all I recommend checking out The Crazies. It is 90 minutes well spent.

[SymphonicX]

interesting review :) there's a little hope for it - but what I saw of the trailer just screamed "wait for it to come on Sky"...so I'll do that.

[DjfunkmasterG]

Its a decent flick. I even liked it more than the DAWN remake. So that is a plus for me and I am sure MZ will chime in with his thumbs high on that comment alone.

[LouCipherr]

I will be the first to admit I've never seen the original, however, the remake was a pretty damn good flick (whoa, did I actually say that out loud?!). I quite enjoyed it, which surprised me.

[Trin]

I've never seen the original on this one either... and I've always wanted to. But you're telling me, Deej, that I'm okay to just go see the remake? This isn't going to screw me on seeing the original the way it was meant to be seen?

I can't shake the feeling that Deej is suckering us into a Night 3D practical joke here.

[LouCipherr]

I can't shake the feeling that Deej is suckering us into a Night 3D practical joke here.

He's not. It's actually a pretty damn decent flick. I have to admit, I went into it thinking "remake? again? really?" but I wasn't let down, it was pretty damn good.

[DjfunkmasterG]

I've never seen the original on this one either... and I've always wanted to. But you're telling me, Deej, that I'm okay to just go see the remake? This isn't going to screw me on seeing the original the way it was meant to be seen?

I can't shake the feeling that Deej is suckering us into a Night 3D practical joke here.


No Joke here man, and honestly seeing this first may help you stomach the original a bit more, but I do have to say this was much better than the original film.

[SymphonicX]

the original happens to be 90 minutes of people shouting at each other....a sort of early Day of the Dead really, but not as enjoyable...

[soulsyfn]

I really enjoyed this remake also. I am not very happy with the potential for a sequel the ending left, but hey who knows they could make another entertaining flick...maybe?

[AcesandEights]

I wanted to catch it in the theater, even scheduled a day for it, but it never happened. Glad to hear more positive reviews about it, as I still hold out hope it'll be an enjoyable rental or purchase.

[LouCipherr]

Could this possibly be one of those extremely rare occasions where the remake is better than the original?! :shifty:

[DjfunkmasterG]

could this possibly be one of those extremely rare occasions where the remake is better than the original?! :shifty:

hell yes!

[bassman]

I too missed the chance to check this out in theater. So would you rate it as a purchase, rental, or "acquire"?

I've heard many people hating on Olyphant, but I personally really like him. Especially in more comedic roles. Go, The Girl Next Door, Dreamcather(not a comedy, but his character was funny).

And most people would REALLY disagree with me here....but I thought he was a good "modern" villain in Die Hard 4.:o He was no Alan Rickman or Jeremy Irons, but good for the story.

[Danny]

my biggest problem is that there where onyl about 6 crazies in it, and the burning town is rarely shown. like it was just cheaper to film 3 people walking through empty fields for 30 minutes.
Its good, and entertaining, but feels incredibly constrained, it starts by hitting the ground running, but quickly gets out of breath.

[DjfunkmasterG]

I too missed the chance to check this out in theater. So would you rate it as a purchase, rental, or "acquire"?

I've heard many people hating on Olyphant, but I personally really like him. Especially in more comedic roles. Go, The Girl Next Door, Dreamcather(not a comedy, but his character was funny).

And most people would REALLY disagree with me here....but I thought he was a good "modern" villain in Die Hard 4.:o He was no Alan Rickman or Jeremy Irons, but good for the story.

I say Acquire, Rental or Purchase... YMMV on how it appeals to you. For me it will be a purchase.

[ProfessorChaos]

yeah, i'm adding this one to my dvd collection when it becomes available.

[DjfunkmasterG]

Most definitely worth the add, and the film has great Cinematography too, so I imagine the Blu-Ray will look fantastic which is how I will most likely acquire The Crazies (2010)

[MinionZombie]

Its a decent flick. I even liked it more than the DAWN remake. So that is a plus for me and I am sure MZ will chime in with his thumbs high on that comment alone.

I can agree with Deej on this - I also liked The Crazies (2010) more than Yawn04 ... ... although the gap for me is vast, whereas for Deej I imagine it's more modest.


I will be the first to admit I've never seen the original, however, the remake was a pretty damn good flick (whoa, did I actually say that out loud?!). I quite enjoyed it, which surprised me.


Could this possibly be one of those extremely rare occasions where the remake is better than the original?! :shifty:

Nope. As-good-as, but not greater than. Both movies do things better and worse than each other, so it evens out in the end - but really, that's about the best you can hope for when remaking a good movie.


Most definitely worth the add, and the film has great Cinematography too, so I imagine the Blu-Ray will look fantastic which is how I will most likely acquire The Crazies (2010)

I'm hoping for an extended cut on feature-packed double disc DVD personally ... and none of that "digital copy" bullshit either. :shifty:

...

My thoughts on the flick (saw it in the cinema):
http://deadshed.blogspot.com/2010/03/crazies.html

[rongravy]

I saw it twice, I thought it kicked ass. I gotta find the original someplace supercheap to check it out. Or see if it's on Netflix...

[bassman]

Anyone that has yet to see the original Crazies.....a new remastered version was recently released on both DVD and Blu Ray. You should be able to find it at any major store like Best Buy. The Blu Ray is cheap, too. 10 buckeroos.

[DjfunkmasterG]

I have seen the Blu-Ray version ont he shelf, but this is one of those films were the DVD is suffice.

[bassman]

I have seen the Blu-Ray version ont he shelf, but this is one of those films were the DVD is suffice.

I would agree with you, but in this particular case the BR was actually cheaper than the DVD. BR for 9.99 and DVD for 14.99. Go figure...

Speaking of BR....I ordered the entire Planet of the Apes SE series on BR for only 40 bucks yesterday! I couldn't believe Amazon had such a good deal. It normally runs around 100. :thumbsup:

[DjfunkmasterG]

Yeah Amazon squeaks out a good deal now and then.

Nothing beats getting the Harry Potter Treasure Chest in HD DVD for $5.00 or Getting the ULTIMATE MATRIX HD DVD collection for $5.00 off Inet video. Those who buy the BR paid 3-4 times that price and got the same exact features and I got it at a steal... brand new.

:D

I will admit that lately I have curbed my BR buying habits, the last thing I bought was being in the group buy for ZOMBIELAND steelbook edition, before that I think the last thing I bought on Blu-Ray was the lot of discs I scooped up over the XMAS holidays.

My ZOmbieland BR was a gift from a friend, but otherwise I haven't really been buyingmany blu-rays, but That will change because there is a slew of titles due out in the next 3 weeks that demand a purchase... and no AVATRASH isn't one of them.

[bassman]

I wouldn't call it "AVATRASH", but I'm not getting it either. Bare bones and whatnot. Might eventually get it when the SE comes out. The lady friend really digs it, so...

But back on topic....has a release date for The Crazies remake been set yet?

[DjfunkmasterG]

I don't think they have set a release date for DVD or BR yet. I will keep an eye out though. I am sure it can't be far off considering it has been out for 9 weeks now in theaters.

I would think this might be a summer release or maybe they will hold off until Halloween time.

[Wooley]

Missed seeing it in theaters. Was wondering if the knitting needle to the eye scene from the original made an appearance in the remake.

[DjfunkmasterG]

Did not see anything like that, but that may have been too intense for the MPAA, and could make an appearance in the UNRATED cut if their is one.

[shootemindehead]

Saw it last night. Have to say, it's a thousand times better than the original.

[JonOfTheShred]

I watched this a few weeks ago and remember being disappointed. I remember thinking "Well, it beats the original in terms of acting and effects...but it could've been WAY better." I think it was a waste of a remake; this movie could've been 'EPIC,' but instead it settled for 'Meh...all right.'

(Having said that, I will eventually watch it again to reassess my opinion, but as it stands, I don't really remember much from this movie at all.)

[MinionZombie]

I agree to some extent with the "EPIC" feel not being as EPIC as I wanted it to be - it ends up becoming a '3 people walking' movie at one point, but equally there are times when it does feel really epic ... so ultimately I thought that the remake did some things better and some things worse than the original, but I came down on the side of digging the flick (after groaning at the trailers for months beforehand).

[Danny]

I agree to some extent with the "EPIC" feel not being as EPIC as I wanted it to be - it ends up becoming a '3 people walking' movie at one point, but equally there are times when it does feel really epic ... so ultimately I thought that the remake did some things better and some things worse than the original, but I came down on the side of digging the flick (after groaning at the trailers for months beforehand).

^this pretty much. We see a town apparnetly go to seed but only get about half a dozen crazies and a few scenes of destruction peppered around 3 folks doing a fellowship of the ring and walking through the countryside.
i assume it was a budget thing, but after the town carnage in 30 days of night this fell completely flat on the whole build up of "population: XXXX" and the general idea of these few thousand or few hundred people going fucking snooker loopy all at once.
They didnt even have dead bodies just lying in the scenes for emphasis. It was all empty set pieces with no soul or character.

Still dug it, kinda good, kinda bad but yeah. Never really came across as something more than 3 people walk through places where it looks like bad stuff happened. but it doesnt LOOK like bad stuff actually happened.


-For the record i would have added a huge twist at the end had i done this with the only crazies being the protagonists and until a reveal at the end everything we saw was warped by there delusions. Its the old "im not crazy! im the only one thats NOT crazy!?!" schtik but i think it really would've worked in this movie to explain the lack of mass chaos.

[bassman]

Finally got around to seeing this thing.

Not bad, not bad at all. There are several things that rubbed me the wrong way(overuse of jump scares, predictable in places, velociraptors, etc), but overall it's a pretty damn good flick. Definitely one of the better Romero remakes. Probably between Night90 and Dawn04.

Anybody check out the BR/DVD yet? It's not a bad purchase. An informative commentary, your basic making-of, effects, etc. There's also a short doc on Romero's influence in the business. Oddly they talk more about his dead films rather than the crazies. There's not even any shots from the original film. They pulled it all from Night. And it's also weird that Don Coserelli(Bubba Ho Tep) is one of the main people speaking....

Overall....I agree with what's been said before. It has it's problems, but it's a fun ride. I would say it's worth a purchase if you find a good deal on it.

[DjfunkmasterG]

I got the BR I did a review of it on my podcast which I will upload tonight. I gave it a 7 out of 10

[darth los]

Not bad, not bad at all. Definitely one of the better Romero remakes. Probably between Night90 and Dawn04.



So let me get this straight.

You have dawn 04' at the high end of the spectrum and this comes in under that, yet you say it wasn't bad at all.

Following that line of logic dawn has to be better than not bad at all right? :confused:

:cool:

[bassman]

No, no....Dawn04 would be the third best. Night, Crazies, Dawn. The rest dont deserve to be ranked, really. So it's kind of a lack of options. :p

[darth los]

No, no....Dawn04 would be the third best. Night, Crazies, Dawn. The rest dont deserve to be ranked, really. So it's kind of a lack of options. :p

Just giving you the opportunity to clarify your positions. :lol:

:cool: